battery info type brand maintenance

[49 Willys]

Hey Fellas how are you.
Reslly close to hitting the water. .Have an 18hp merc elect stsrt and trolling mtr. And neef a battery. Was goong to use the otima yellow out of my Willys but dont know how hard the boat will be on a battery. Is it best to buy a pricy top of the line or a cheap one every year.
Best way to charge out in the woods? Any battery info would be really good.
Thanx

 

[KMixson]

Myself, I would go with a quality battery I could trust. The Optima is a good battery. I would steer clear of the cheapest battery you can find. The Pb (lead acid) batteries have plates inside that if they become dislodged and touch one another they can explode. Being in a boat and being bounced around continuously the cheap ones may not have the rigidness in the walls to hold the plates separated. I had one explode in a pick-up one time by closing the hood and the vibration caused the plates to touch. A quality battery would make me feel safer. The Optima is an absorbed glass mat battery that has plates separated by the glass mat that acts like a sponge between them. Just my 2 cents worth. Others may feel different.

 

[TNtroller]

A size U1 (lawnmower) battery will crank the 18hp easily, but its a lead acid battery and about $30 at WM. check to see if your 18hp has a charging function on it, if so then the 18 will keep the U1 charged up unless you short trip it alot. I've used the U1's in small boats before and they have held up to the vibration of being towed to the water and running on plane w/o issue. The one in my ZTR is about 5 y/o and cranks a 21 hp motor w/o issue as well. JMO

 

[richg99]

I wouldn't worry one iota about lead acid batteries in boats. There are literally millions of them in use today and have been for 50 or more years.

I've had good results with WalMart marine batteries for 20 years. richg99

 

[49 Willys]

Gentlemen thank you..
As I have dumped a ton of cash in this think I'm just going to use the optimally of my old willys.
I will be out for five days lot of trolling as well best way to keep or recharge. Was thinking jumper cables to my new ford truck let it run for an hour. Whats your thoughts?